The Self-Shot: A Study of Fame and Dorkdom

POST BY MARINA GALPERINA
M.Gira, of Angels of Light, formerly of Swans, via his MySpace

Do you feel lame after sitting alone with your little camera, miming personality before the flash, angling your jaws for that flattering, “spontaneous” face? Don’t. We’ve all done the self-shot. With the metempsychosis of all regular social behavior into Facebook, Twitter, and What-ever-the-shit-er, we’re all well on the way to becoming our own avatars. The amusing byproducts of this are the self-shots by cultural figures like Mr. Gira over here. Yes, I almost feel like you’re really “my friend” there, sir.

Whether you think of the pervasiveness of social networking sites as a genesis of high-tech awesomeness and great idea-exchange portals or that it’s a potentially Apocalyptic, shallow, collective hallucination of friendship – you probably have a bunch of profiles yourself. Of course, it’s best to be somewhere between a Luddite and one of those people vomiting their every banal thought all over each other online. But if David Lynch is wishing Elvis a Happy Birthday or Damien Hirst wishes it rained sand, I want to know about it! And if Weird Al puts tiny lizards on his face and takes a picture of himself, I want to see it! (See that and others of varied relevancy, after the break. Plus: post your finds!)

Michael Gira’s Duality of Man (a.k.a. “hey, six-eyes!”) via his MySpace

Self-pic from Stephen Fry’s usual Twitter diarrhea, in all its earnest weariness

Stephen Fry’s tender postcard of rose and hangnail

David Lynch’s disappointingly normal twitpics

When Eddie Izzard went crazy – marathon run, pit stops for Mona Lisa smiles

Author Douglas Coupland, in self-imposed limbo

Weird Al’s reduces legacy to Reptile Habitat Face

Ye Olde Dorkgasm, twitpic